BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

I wrote the copy to this video and the subsequent documentary we're doing. Watch for it.

by rick olivares

Rust never sleeps

Getting the number one seed and the twice-to-beat advantage is
good but the lay-off – any layoff – can be bad. Imagine not playing for two
weeks. And the rust showed.

Advantage to La Salle because they looked sharp and their
defense this time contained Greg Slaughter.

However, it wasn’t only the long lay-off that anyone had to
worry about. When you add the disconcerting and unnerving fallout between
Ateneo and disengaged team patron Manuel V. Pangilinan that has been online
fodder these past two weeks you wonder if it will weigh heavy on the Blue
Eagles.

I spoke with a few players in the previous week who all admitted
that it threw them off for a bit but a meeting with their coach and a team
dinner with MVP helped put them back on track.

Said Kiefer Ravena who passed by my classroom in Ateneo the
other day, “There are things that are beyond our control. What we can do as a
team is try to control our destiny with our play on the court.”

Unfortunately, one referee tried to control the game – and
possibly the outcome -- with all sorts of bizarre calls.

If it isn’t obvious, we are up against more than the five
opposing players on the court

Every side complains about the officiating. Every side says that
the ref has it in for them.

I remember an anecdote told by a former coach of one of the
teams that played in the Final Four about how their athletic director – in a
casual conversation during a previous season – suggested buying off the
referees.

That former coach shot him an incredulous look and said, “We don’t
do that here.” And this athletic director shrugged.

While doing a story on former Ateneo head coach Joe Lipa when I
asked him about these unseen forces, he said, “You can smell it but you can’t
see it.” And I believe the man they call “Da Nose”.

Having watched the UAAP for a long time, I have seen some
players change their free throw stances, make inexplicable shots, or miss shots
that well they should make. I believe one coach even gave away a game. And
that’s just in basketball. A former football player admitted that his team
deliberately lost a game so they could play a team they wanted to get revenge
on.

I thought that the first two Ateneo-La Salle matches were
generally well officiated. Fool I was to think that this one would be the same.
Not when it’s moneytime (pun intended).

I still have no idea if our referees review the calls – via
video and not the chitchat that seems to be the norm -- they make during the
course of a game. Some of these guys have no shame and more so with the league
that allows this.

Back to this Final Four match up. Some of these calls were
momentum breakers and they gave La Salle every chance to either stay within
striking distance or even win the game. It wasn’t like the UST game that was
atrociously officiated but this was dangerously close.

It is obvious coaches are testing the commissioner

Ever since Commissioner Ato Badolato was shot down on his ruling
in the second round match between FEU and NU as well as the subsequent,
Ateneo-UST match, you could see coaches testing him.

Remember when Norman Black was not called for a technical foul
for crossing the court to question a referee? I understand why he did that but
it did warrant a T. UST’s Pido Jarencio then opined that if he did the same and
were slapped with a foul call then all hell would break loose.

Watching La Salle challenge Kiefer Ravena’s three-point shot
late (at the 2:28 mark of the fourth quarter) that was taken with 4:00 to play
was bogus. They had no timeouts left and they sought to challenge the shot to
give them an opportunity to pull their team together for some instructions.
Green Archers assistant coach Jun Limpot crossed the court to talk to the ref
and they blinked. See what happens when people monkey around with the game?

Yet incredibly, this was right before Greg Slaughter was
supposed to make a free throw.

Normally, a replay of a previous shot is made during the course
of a game and the game barker announces the challenge and the correction of a
call during a lull. But this one was insidious.

That challenge took several minutes and that broke the momentum of
Ateneo. Slaughter missed the free throw that would have given the Blue Eagles a
five-point lead and Almond Vosotros nailed a trey to bring the lead down.

The deliberate foul on Kiefer Ravena on Jeron Teng with 15.6
seconds left was another WTF moment.

I have always said that I do not mind losing but not like this.
As for those challenges, if it is proven wrong then the team that called for it
must be charged with a timeout or even slapped a technical foul because it is
an obvious delaying tactic. The NFL has successfully worked that into their
rule book and maybe that is something the UAAP should do as well.

I hear the opposing side say that Ryan Buenafe fouled Teng and
that caused him to lose the ball. Sure it was. But the ref missed it and a foul
cannot be called on a replay. The call was to check if the ball went off Teng.

Upon the resumption of the game, that ref (#7) who had been
making all sorts of bad calls against Ateneo announced that the ball was going
to La Salle! When the other referee tried to correct him, you could see in the
manner of his reaction that he was angry at being corrected. Yet this official
went to the technical table to review the play and he saw that it was off
Teng’s hands!

I shudder to think what awaits us in the finals.

That was a marvelous one-two-three combination

There are only two teams in the UAAP this season that have three
players who average in double figures and they will both be playing in the
finals.

UST that has Karim Abdul, Jeric Teng, and Aljon Mariano.

And Ateneo that has Kiefer Ravena, Greg Slaughter, and Nico
Salva.

That means both teams have potent starting fives that can blow
away foes with their firepower. No doubt opposing teams will try to stop one or
two of them so it is up to another starter or even a bench player to pick up
the slack.

Nico Salva carried the team early on before turning it over to
Kiefer Ravena who had an incandescent fourth quarter. Then the last five points
for the Blue Eagles went Ryan Buenafe who finished off La Salle.

Salva was automatic from the outside until he decided to mix it
up with some drives that didn’t do too well.

I remember in last year’s Champions League where Kiefer Ravena
did not play well at all. That continued all the way to the pre-season and even
the first game of this Season 75. I hoped that there wouldn’t be a sophomore
jinx but there has been none. That says a lot about his talent to the point
where he can be overlooked. But following the loss to UE, he’s ratcheted up his
game several levels higher. Phenom indeed.

When La Salle went up by 11, many teams would have folded under
the face of that intense kind of pressure. If there is a hallmark about Norman
Black’s Ateneo teams, it has been their resiliency. The boys in blue came back
but Kiefer strapped the team onto his back in that fourth period with a nifty
assist to Greg Slaughter for an and-one, he buried three treys including one
that bounced on the rim before settling in the bottom of the net, and there was
that pass to Buenafe who was at the right corner pocket.

Remember Ryan’s three for three against FEU in Season 73? In
this Final Four game against La Salle, Buenafe was 0-5 from La La Land but this
one – as his legend grows as a clutch player – was straight and true. Classic Buenafe.

When La Salle pulled that faux timeout/challenge, Ryan stole it
back from them by forcing Jeron Teng into a lane violation. Unfortunately, he
botched the next play as the time nearly ran out on a one-on-one before he
kicked out at the last moment. He redeemed himself with that dagger and two
free throws to ice the game and Ateneo’s fifth consecutive trip to the UAAP
Men’s Basketball Finals.

Right before the two teams went out to the court for their
warm-ups, Buenafe’s old San Sebastian high teammate Almond Vosotros went to
Jojo de la Rama and said, “Paki sabi kay Ryan wag niyang galingan.”

As Buenafe trooped to the free throw line for two shots with the
game on the line, Vosotros went to him to give him some friendly advice. It
didn’t work.

I asked Ryan outside Café Adriatico in Gateway last night what
Vosotros said to him. Said Mr. Clutch, “I didn’t understand; Tagalog, eh.” We
had quite a hearty laugh.

We’re back in the Finals

When I used to listen to my dad’s stories about Ateneo
championships, I’d go “wow.” He was in grade school when Rusty Cacho led the
seniors to titles in 1953 and ’54. He was in high school when the seniors won
behind Ed Ocampo in 1957 and ’58. When he was in college, his classmates helped
ye old blue and white to another NCAA championship in 1961. Kaya mayabang batch
ng dad ko.

But I too have my stories to tell. In grade school, Ateneo
basketball was in its first Dark Age. In high school, we were taking all comers
and handing their backs at them for back-to-back UAAP Juniors crowns. By the
time I got to college, we took the 1987 and ’88 championships, the first two
for Ateneo in the UAAP. That was won with many of my batch mates – Sep Canlas,
Jun Reyes, Jet Nieto (whose kids you should watch in the juniors team), Alex
Araneta, Jay Gayoso (he has his own wunderkid playing football for Ateneo), and
Gene Afable.

After the winless 1990s, it was an explosion of emotions when we
won in 2002. The joke by La Salle back then was our next title would come in
another 14 years. For a while, I wondered if they were right as we lost in 2003
and 2006.

I knew our time had come in Season 71 and we could make it
back-to-back. Winning three straight, well, that was downright historic as the
last Ateneo team to accomplish that was many generations ago (1931-33). To win
four straight is fantastic and now, to play for a historic fifth straight
title, well, I’d tell you more but let’s just wait ‘til it’s all done. Then
what a marvelous story that would be.

Fifteen down. Two to win.

Pic by Philip Sison

---------After dinner at Oyster Boy, I bumped into the Ravena family who I have been friends with since well Bong and Mozzy weren't married yet. Hahaha. I told Bong: "Galing talaga ng anak mo. Pero mas magaling pa rin yung Bong Ravena." Bong laughed and disagreed. Mozzie disagreed too. While Kief has surpassed his dad in terms of championships at this level, Bong was a force of nature if you saw him play then. I don't recall anyone stopping him. You just hoped he had a bad day or that he got into foul trouble. So there.---------
Also spoke to two of my friends on the La Salle team -- Joshua Webb and Arnold Van Opstal. Told Webb to continue to work hard so he'd get into the PBA. As for Arnold, this guy can get so much better. While Webb is off the team as he's done with eligibility, AVO has three more years. La Salle will have a very good team next year. Love these two guys.

1. Kiefer bringing out a gun and seemingly shooting at someone (we all know who it was) after a trey. Never saw Kiefer do that, unless provoked and put one on the defender. Lesson learned (for the opposing team): never provoke and trash talk the Phenom.

2. Lopez in the patron seat (well, he's always visible), and corollary to that, MVP conspicuously absent. Do we see a changing of the guard as well in this front? lol j/k.

3. The three stooges delaying the game (and awarding an undue advantage) for a team unnecessarily. It's like, WTF is the commotion about? There's no issue whatsoever. Don't they want to get this game done and over with? And them being confused, yet, it was so obvious the coach is cunningly making them delay the game through a legit rule which is being clearly abused for an agenda --- extra time-outs at crucial moments he couldn't call any anymore. And I say that in plural 'cuz aside from the reviews of ancient plays, he was also complaining adamantly about something after the unsportsmanlike foul throws were taken but one could clearly see he was waving his boys for a huddle to design the last play that could have won them the game. And this with NO time out left and NB wisely not calling any.

Board, tech com, whichever should revise that rule --- one coach may ask for a challenge IMMEDIATELY AFTER (or the next dead ball) the play and not 4 mins after or the previous quarter. In a way, when Commish Ato went back at an Erram unsportsmanlike that meted a game suspension by way of a review of a WHOLE GAME and not just the immediate circumstances that led to Bringas spitting, that paved the way for this consequent abuse.

And this has nothing to do at all with the Board acting over and beyond the Comish jurisdiction. That's an entirely different story.

4. Ryan's tongue at Jeron when he blocked him. I think the ROY just choked in that game. The trash talking and mind game so got on the player's head that it even got to the Robocop father. How true is it that the elder Teng did not mince words at Ryan after the game? Do we see a 'banning' (from patron) of a parent yet again by the Board? The verbal abuse doesn't pale in comparison to that CSA parent sans the gun totting. Let the boys play or 'bully each other'. Now suck it up if your boy loses in the mental and physical game. Salva's father is a different case though. He was going against a coach who clearly doesn't know the propriety of his job and profession.

5. Joshua Webb crying. And it reminded me of Dindo Pumaren in 1988. Nuf said. No need to further humiliate a man down in the dumps. Let me just remind though, someone once touted this guy as the future of Dlsu (and that Salva and Kiefer were bust and hype, respectively). But then again, your blog isn't designed to make fools of other people of the green kind, so I'll stop and won't either.

There was a La Salle coach who kept on delaying the game by also walking into the court, but no technical foul was called. I bet Fr. Dacanay wrote the names of the referees again on his students' quiz papers. He did that last time :)

And this Finals is as much Pido's exorcising as NB's in 2006. Think "luhaan" (his word not mine) ERA (yep, not just a game or season or two but a whole Olympic cycle!) Tidbit: you have any idea that Long lost just but 1 game (first round of 2007) to UST in his whole UAAP days? lol

So watch out. He'll throw the books around (like he tried to do in the second round) just to get that W.

Bong was the ROY when he and Vergel (yep, the aerial voyager) joined Purefoods and Sunkist, respectively (I may be wrong though with their first teams) in the PBA.

In college days, UE and JRC (was it already a Uni then?),respectively, obviously they didn't meet as PCCL was not in place yet and the usual Battle of the Champions (UAAP vs NCAA champ in a one game exhibition) didn't make it possible for these 2 to meet.

Nice review Rick. I do agree with you that the review of Kiefer's 3-point shot(s) were obviously a trick that La Salle pulled up their sleeves to ruin the momentum of Ateneo. And if I'm not mistaken they did that twice, I was wondering why it did not merit a call for delaying the game, when it took roughly 2-3 minutes of momentum from Ateneo's game?

Any chance Ateneo petitions the Commish to ban certain refs? The string of poorly officiated games towards the end of the season--this, the round 2 games against UST and NU--is a legitimate cause for concern in close games. Seems like the drive for 5 is going up against an unseen hand.

Pana-panahon lang sa college basketball...players come and go...ADMU will have a hard time against UST...and biases will always be around whether a player trash talk or not...Buenafe's mouth is as big as the ring...We'll find out about Ateneo next year, no Slaughter, no Salva, no Black, no MVP...but for now, let's enjoy the finals...

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I also write regularly for Business Mirror; philstar.com; abs-cbnnews.com, and rappler.com.

I am also currently the media officer for the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup, the National Basketball Training Center, and the Flying V Davao Thunders.

I do PR consultancy for a variety of clients that I do not want to divulge.

I used to teach journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University hand have given lectures about journalism, new media, marketing, and public relations at the Ateneo, UP Diliman, UST, San Beda, Immaculate Conception Academy, Miriam College, Mindanao State University, FIFA seminars, and a few other schools and organizations.

I used to write for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines Free Press, and Maxim Philippines. I have also contributed to FHM, Men's Health, Tower Sports NBA, Rebound, and a few other sports, interior design, and lifestyle magazines as well. Most recently, I was the editor-in-chief of PBA Life, the Official Lifestyle Magazine of the Philippine Basketball Association as well as Season 40 edition of Hardcourt, the season-in-review.

My blog, Bleachers' Brew, serves as a hub for many of my writings (but not all as there are some that are exclusive).

When I have free time, I listen to my collection of over 5,000 CDs, read, watch DVDs, or walk my dog around the subdivision.